Hi everyone! Thanks to everyone who followed and/or reviewed. I have been sharing your reviews with my editor (aka my brother). He appreciates the reviews also. I have a slightly extended author's note at the end of this chapter to address some concerns that were expressed via reviews. Thanks again.

Oh and I don't own Fairy Tail.

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. -Les Brown

The two young girls continued their walk through the dark and dreary stone hall. The hallway was very dimly lit, so Lucy couldn't see more than a few feet in front of them. Lucy expected that the empty hall would echo their footsteps, but it the hallway was distinctly silent. The silence was so eerie, it was unsettling. With their next step, part of the hall began to glow. Lucy let out a yelp in surprise and the two girls shifted backwards, the mysterious glow receded as well.

"What was that?" Lucy asked while placing a hand over her heart in an attempt to regain her calm.

"Juvia does not know," said calmly, "but Juvia suspects that it is part of the spell."

Juvia continued to walk forward with a sense of conviction. Lucy watched as the glow became more distinct and turned a blue color as Juvia walked through it. Lucy watched in slight amazement as the blue glow slowly faded out before she took a step through herself. However, when Lucy passed the same spot, the hall didn't glow at all. Lucy thought that it was odd, but what was weirder was the sight before her.

What had been the hallway that the girls travelled through had changed almost completely. Instead was what appeared to be the inside of a house. The floor was hardwood, and the walls had been painted a cool grey-blue color. There was a light colored rug that covered the floor and toys were scattered about the room. Lucy took a look back from where the two girls had come from. The dark and foreboding hallway was still there, but in between where the girls stood and the stone hallway was a door. It gave Lucy the impression that she as Juvia had entered the house through a closet.

Lucy moved forward to look around at their new surroundings. She could see the beginning of another room attached to the living room on the right side and to the left there was a hallway that continued to the rest of the house. Although the room they were in was well lit, a fierce rain storm could be seen through the window causing the outside to appear almost pitch black. The sound of the rain was so distinct that it seemed to be everywhere.

"Where are we, Juvia?" Lucy asked, trying to take in as much as she could about their new environment.

"Juvia does not know, Juvia has never been to this place." Juvia said, just as curious as Lucy.

A knock sounded throughout the room causing the young girls to jump. From around the corner of the room came the adult Gray Fullbuster. He was in his usual state of partial undress. He wore black pants, but had no shoes or socks. He still had his trademark necklace hanging from his neck and his blue Fairy Tail mark still adorned his chest.

"I'm coming." He called out, walking towards a door on the other side of the room. Juvia's eyes followed him as he moved quickly to the door. He took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair before opening the door and welcoming two people into his home. Gajeel and Levy walked into the home and out of the rain. Young Lucy couldn't help but smile when she saw that Levy and Gajeel were holding hands.

"Thanks for doing this, guys." Gray said, but there was something amiss about him. "You have no idea how much this means to me… to us."

"Don't worry about it Gray." Levy said as she pulled him into a tight hug. "We are more than willing to help out anyway we can."

"Has there been any change?" Gajeel asked in a low and sorrowful voice. Gray met his eyes and shook his head.

"Porlyusica has been by already been by and she refuses to come by any more. Wendy has been by at least twice this week. They both say that there is nothing physically wrong, but…" Gray's voice cracked and he covered his face with one of his hands.

"You are doing the right thing, Gray." Levy assured him as she gently pulled out of the hug.

"I know, it's just…" But Gray never finished his sentence. A small squeal could be heard from down the hallway drawing the attention of Juvia and Lucy. A small girl, no older than three or four years old came running towards Levy and Gajeel.

"Auntie Levy," she squealed and jumped into the arms of the script mage. Levy smiled wide as she held the young girl. The young girl had black hair, already past her shoulders. Her features were soft and gentle and her eyes were a bright blue.

"Hey there Lumi,"Levy replied to the small girl. "Where is your brother?"

"He's still trying to find one of his shoes. He takes them off without realizing it and then can't find them later…" Lumi said in a matter of fact fashion. This caused Levy and Gajeel to chuckle.

"I found them," came the voice of a boy from down the hall. A boy, no older than six or seven, entered from a room in the hallway. He had one shoe on and was struggling to walk and put on the other shoe at the same time. When he looked up, Lucy gasped. The boy could have been Gray's identical twin. The boy has the same face, the same hair, the same nose, but his eyes were different. His eyes were a deep ocean blue.

"Juvia," Lucy said in awe. "He has your eyes." Juvia stood still taking in the sight. The young boy and girl were so energetic. Gajeel went to meet the young boy and picked him up swinging him over his shoulder. The boy giggled and was almost out of breath when Gajeel put the boy down.

"How's it goin', Kai? You ready to train with me and Pantherlily this week?" Gajeel said, kneeling down to the boy's height.

"Hell yeah!" The boy exclaimed and Gajeel ruffled the boy's hair.

"Okay you two, say good-bye to your Dad before we go." Levy said, putting the little girl back on the ground and turning to grab the children's coats. Gajeel had already picked up to small duffle bags and held them over his shoulder.

Both of the small children turned to Gray, who knelt down on one knee and held out his arms. The children jumped into his arms and Gray gripped them tightly.

"Kai, take care of your sister this week, okay?" Gray instructed. The boy replied with a nod, not loosening his grip on the ice-make mage.

"And Lumi," Gray started with a small smile forming on his face.

"Yes, Daddy?" The small girl replied.

"Be sure to behave for Auntie Levy," Gray instructed and tightened his grip on the two young children.

"I will Daddy. I promise." The little girl said in the most serious voice she could muster, though her voice sounded more sweet and innocent than anything.

"I love you both very much." Gray said, pulling out of the hug.

"Love you too, Dad." Kai said with a small smile before turning and taking Gajeel's hand. Lumi turned over to Levy, who picked up the small child. With one last kiss to his children, he opened the door and watched the two disappear into the storm with his guild mates.

Gray closed the door and leaned back against it, allowing his body to slide down until he sat on the ground with his eyes closed. The man allowed himself to take a few deep breaths as he sat on the floor. This was the first time that Juvia and Lucy had really gotten a good look at his face, and it was unsettling. His face was tired, his eyes held deep circles. The skin around his eyes almost looked bruised and stress lines adorned his forehead. As he took some deep breaths, one hand came up to grip the pendant that hung around his neck.

"Gray-sama," young Juvia cried in a sad and quiet voice. She approached the man and held out her small hand to cup his face. She was left disappointed when she couldn't touch him, her hand passed through his form as if she was a ghost. Lucy could see the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Gray opened his eyes and took another deep breath before releasing the grip on his pendant. He stood up and made his way down the hallway to the left side of the house. Juvia followed him and Lucy slowly followed after. At the end of the hall, Gray entered a room. Juvia stopped at the open door. Lucy walked up to her and looked into the room curiously.

The room was dark, the darkest part of the house so far. The curtains were open, and rain could be heard against the window. The room looked to have been decorated in a variety of blues, from the curtains, to the carpet, down to the sheets on the bed. If the sun were shining, the colors would have made the room bright and cheerful. However, the darkness in the room left the blue colors looking grey or black. It made the room look dull and grim. Near the window of the room was the bed and next to the bed was a simple chair. Gray had walked over and sat in the chair, facing the bed. It was then that Lucy and Juvia noticed a figure lying in the bed. It appeared to be a woman; her skin was pale with no color on her cheeks at all. She was propped up in a reclined position in the bed and dressed in her bed clothes. She was thin and frail looking. Her hair was a dark, dull blue color and the oily locks hung close to her head as if it had not been washed in a long time. Lucy took in a sharp breath. At the same time, Juvia's eyes widened in recognition. Juvia was looking at herself.

The most disturbing part of the appearance of the adult Juvia in the bed was her eyes. The woman's eyes were open, but it was as if she wasn't looking at anyone. Her head and eyes were fixed in place and didn't move as Gray entered the room or when he sat down in the chair to be close to her. When the woman remained unmoving as Gray took her hand into both of his hands, Lucy began to wonder if the woman was even alive.

Lucy took the young Juvia's hand in hers and walked towards the bed to be able to see the scene more clearly. It was then that Lucy could see the adult Juvia's chest rise slowly with breath, assuring the young girl that she was, indeed, alive. If you can call this living, young Lucy thought to herself.

Gray brought Juvia's hand to his mouth and kissed it gently before rubbing his fingers over her knuckles. He took a deep breath and addressed the woman in a seemingly catatonic state.

"Hey, babe," He said, though his voice was clearly shaky. "I had Levy and Gajeel take the kids for a while so that I can focus on you." The young Juvia pulled her eyes off of the shell of a woman in the bed and let go of Lucy's hand to walk towards Gray's side.

"I didn't want them to worry about you," Gray continued to talk to the woman; though she made no indication that she heard him. "I know that Kai has suspected that something has been wrong for a while. When Lumi started to ask," Gray's voice cracked and tears could be visibly seen falling from his eyes. "When she asked when you would get better, I didn't know what to tell her. She said when you aren't sick any more that you could play 'tea time' with her again."

"I didn't want to send them away, but I just couldn't do it any more Juvia," Gray cried, bringing Juvia's hand to cup his face, looking for some kind of comfort, some kind of response, anything to indicate that she was listening. "I tell them every day how much you love them, and I know that they love you too." Gray stopped speaking, allowing himself to cry and soak in the sound of the rain that filled the background.

"I can't be worrying about them and you at the same time. I don't want their memories of their mother to be like this. Please don't let this be the last that they see of you. I don't want them to grow up without their mother. They miss you." The young Juvia tried to reach out again to cup Gray's face, but again she was unable to touch him. Like a ghost, her hand passed right through Gray. It was as if she wasn't there at all. Tears began to spill from her eyes.

"I miss you. So please, don't waste away, Juvia. Wendy said that you just have to fight this, whatever it is, just find a reason to come back to us. Just come back to me Juvia, whatever it takes. I don't want to lose you." Gray cried even harder, looking straight into the dull eyes of the shell of a woman. As he spoke, her eyes would blink, but they remain passive and unresponsive. "So I'm going to go and make you soup, and I am going to feed it to you and you'll get your strength back." The words seemed to be more to reassure himself than for her. "I won't lose you too Juvia, I love you too much to lose you." Gray whispered. Then he kissed the woman's hand and placed it back on to the bed. "I'll be right back." He leaned forward with tears still in his eyes and kissed the woman's forehead before standing and leaving the room.

Lucy was speechless. Even when her mother was sick, Layla was never so unresponsive. It hurt Lucy to see how broken Gray was, and yet he was so dedicated to trying to save Juvia. Her heart hurt. But Lucy could only imagine what Juvia was feeling, watching Gray be destroyed by his sorrow while her adult-self appeared to be wasting away. Lucy looked at the young water mage, who appeared to be just as frozen, her eyes stuck where she had seen Gray disappear from the room. Lucy was about to say something to Juvia when something in her eyes changed.

Young Juvia's eyes turned from shock and sorrow, to rage. She climbed her way on to the bed and faced her catatonic counterpart. Her face began to turn red and her hands formed fists at her sides.

"How could you do that to Gray-sama?" The small bluenette yelled at the woman in bed. "Gray-sama loves Juvia, Gray-sama has made a life with Juvia. Juvia has given Gray-sama children and now Juvia will just sit and do nothing!" Lucy was wrong. The small water mage wasn't just angry, she was infuriated. Tears formed streams from her eyes and down her face. If Juvia had noticed, she didn't care to wipe them away, but instead continued to yell. "Gray-sama has already lost so much, and you! You are being selfish." She screamed and pointed accusingly at the woman in the bed. Her screams caused young Lucy to cover her ears and cringe at the sight.

"You have everything that you have ever wanted here, and you cannot get up to be with your children? To be with Gray-sama's children? How could you do that to Gray-sama? How could you do this to Kai and little, sweet Lumi?" Juvia continued on her angry tirade before her voice began to crack and she fell to her knees on the bed.

"How could you do this to Juvia?" The young Juvia said and then fell forward onto the bed as her cries turned into hysterics. Lucy uncovered her ears and climbed up onto the bed to go to Juvia. Lucy pushed Juvia to sit up and pulled her into a tight hug. Lucy could feel the tears in her own eyes as she finally understood.

"Juvia, is this what happened to your mother?"

Juvia remembered the day that her Uncle picked her up. She had gone to tell her mother good-bye. She remembered the blank look on her mother's face, absent of all recognition. She remembered how it made her feel empty and cold…

She had been told the day before by her grandmother to pack all of her things. She didn't have much, but she remembered the rag doll that her mother had helped her make when she wasn't so… gone. Her mother's room seemed so dark, despite all the lights shining in the room.

"Mama, its Juvia." Juvia had said after she climbed into her mother's bed. She had sat right next to her mother. She remembered that her eyes felt endless… empty…

"Juvia has the doll that Juvia and Mama had made together." The young girl said as she looked down at the doll. The doll had been made with a smile stitched on her face and a simple white dress.

"Juvia remembers that Mama was happy that day." Juvia picked up her mother's hand so that she could rest the doll underneath it. "Juvia thinks that maybe the doll will make Mama better again. Then Mama can help Juvia make a new doll." Then Juvia hugged her mother before hearing her uncle say it was time to go.

She remembered the long carriage ride going to a place called Oak Town. She remembered the sound of the rain as it fell against the carriage.

Drip… drip… drop…

Lucy hugged the girl and tried to calm her down, whispering comforting words to the girl. The sobs had Juvia shaking.

"Juvia's mother…" Juvia tried to say between sobs. "… was the same… way. Juvia's Uncle came… to get Juvia. Juvia never saw… Juvia's mother… again."

"Shh," Lucy whispered as she rubbed Juvia's back. It was a while before Juvia could stop crying long enough to speak again.

"Uncle and Juvia received the letter two weeks later." Juvia said as she pulled away from Lucy and wiped her eyes on the back on her hand.

"When Juvia asked why Mother had died, Uncle said it was sadness that came with the rain." The young water mage said, sniffling occasionally. "Juvia had learned so many things from Mother. Mother taught Juvia to sew and to make tea, and to control the movement of the water. So when the rain followed Juvia… Juvia wonders if Mother gave Juvia the rain too."

"But, Juvia…" Lucy said, causing Juvia to look up at her. "You are not your mother."

"But Juvia―"

"You protected Gray with your water magic when we were attacked at the resort. You took a hit from one of Laxus's thunder lacrimas just to prove how loyal you were to Fairy Tail. You protected Gray from Meredy when she was going to try to kill him by killing herself."

Juvia looked away from Lucy as she spoke, remembering the events as well.

"Juvia," Lucy said trying to get the young water mage to look at her again, "I don't think that you could ever do this to Gray or to anyone."

"How can Lucy be so sure?" Juvia questioned with uncertainty in her voice.

"Because, you know how it feels to be left that way… and you would rather face anything than put someone else through that pain." Lucy reasoned. It was then that Lucy began to notice a change. Lucy couldn't quite tell what was different, but something had definitely changed.

"Thank you, Lucy." Juvia said and wiped away a few stray tears from her eyes. "Lucy has given Juvia something to remember."

"What's that?" Lucy asked, a little confused by the comment.

"That Juvia is willing to go through everything and anything for the ones that Juvia loves, and that makes Juvia happy. Helping others and being there for others makes Juvia happy." Juvia said with a smile on her face before reaching over to hug Lucy.

"Juvia believes it is time to return to the others." The young Juvia said quietly as she released Lucy from the hug. Juvia sounded more confident, although she was still sniffling from her tears.

"How do you know?" Lucy asked.

"Because Juvia knows that Juvia's fear is not stronger than Juvia's desire to protect her family," she said as she started to climb down from off of the bed. Lucy moved to follow her when Juvia suddenly stopped.

"And the rain has stopped."

Lucy looked around and noticed for the first time that she couldn't hear the rain. She quickly ran to the window and saw that Juvia was right. The rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to peak its way into room. With a smile on her face, she ran to catch up with the young water mage.

Just as an FYI:

Kai- Hawaiian for ocean/sea (I know that Kai has a million different other definitions in different languages, this is the one I am using. :p)

Lumi- Finnish for snow

First off, to Dinoadge (the self-proclaimed grammar and spelling Nazi): my editor says, and I quote, "I got you, boo!" (It's my brother, sometimes I just don't question it).

Next were several concerns brought up by Crimsonlink310.

1. I am not deliberately trying to bash Natsu. When I wrote, "to anyone who was willing to listen", I meant that he was not addressing anyone in particular and not that he was attention seeking. I also do not think that Natsu is stupid. I think that he lacks the context needed to appropriately respond to social cues. That being said, he was raised by a dragon and likely knows how to read dragon better than he knows Fioran. I really think that when he wants to he can think his way through tough situations, I think most of the time he lacks the motivation to.

2. The comment Natsu made about Gray and the women in his life was meant to be over the line. It was meant to be more than a little childish and immature. It was supposed to be insensitive and hurtful, enough so that Gray needed to get away from Natsu in order to cool off. You aren't meant to like it. I didn't like to write it, but it served a purpose to move the story forward. At the same time, it is within Natsu's character to lash out when he is stressed over something he can't control. We see that in the anime, episode 20 when Natsu lashes out at Lucy after he and Happy get into an argument.

3. In chapter 4, Natsu mentions that he can take whatever is down the hallway, but then later when Gajeel asks who is going first everyone is quiet. I didn't think this was an inconsistency in the story line because Natsu didn't say that he would go first. In fact, it was more him trying to say he we tougher than Gray than him saying he would go first. The fact that all of them took more than a little bit of a pause is an indication that they are all apprehensive of the situation.

Anyway… Sorry for the rant. I go through many of these conversations with my editor before I publish to make sure that everything is in character and consistent.

Thanks for putting up with me and please review to let me know what you think!